|
Welcome to the award winning Mountainfeet!
 We're a specialist mountain sports clothing and equipment shop with a keen interest in walking, climbing and running footwear together with the mechanics of the feet and lower limbs.
We think it's paramount that mountain enthusiasts understand the importance of foot health and choice of correctly sized and shaped footwear. We sell all manner of outdoor clothing and equipment but particularly specialise in footwear and expert fitting.
 You'll probably find us in a crusading mood if you come into the shop – we've seen many pairs of feet that would have benefited from a service like ours 20 or 30 years ago. So we're very committed to making sure our customers take the best possible care of their feet during sport and educating them in some of the best ways of staying healthy and preserving lower limb function well into old age...
We have lately linked up with local podiatrists, Bob and Paul Tennant of Tennant Podiatry. Their practice is only 200 metres from our shop and they have a special interest in biomechanical analysis which compliments the work we do here.
Mumps Bridge is now just history...
Over the August Bank Holiday one of Oldham's oldest and best known landmarks, the 150 year old Mumps Bridge, has been demolished to make way for the impending Metrolink from Manchester.
There are some who are sad at its passing but it also marks the start of exciting new developments and the possibility of commercial prosperity for Oldham.
On a miserable, wet Saturday we witnessed the start of the demolition and by the time we came back into shop after the Bank Holiday, the bridge had gone! And the sun had come out too – surely that's a bright omen for our town?!!!
To view the before and after photos at full size and to see where our shop was in relation to the bridge, use your mouse to hover the cursor over either photo.
And to see a short video of the initial demolition of the bridge, click on the first photo after zooming it. To see the main span being lifted click the second photo.
The saddest news about Cap
 We lost our handsome and adored collie dog on August the fourth just three days short of his fifteenth birthday. For all of us here at the shop it is a very upsetting time but Cap's loss has especially hit Si and Lizzie hard. Cap was everybody's friend, he welcomed customers, entertained with his antics and cheered us up when we were feeling down. Totally irreplaceable, we'd love you to tell us what he meant to you if you'd had the privilege of meeting him.
Cap, we love you and will never forget you...
Here's an excerpt from one of many fantastic emails of condolence...
Hello Si,
 Thanks for your email and the super picture of Cap. You can just see the character of him doing one of his menacing stares from among the hostas! I know that you will miss him so very much – it was obvious how much you loved him. However you will always have his memories and in time they will overtake the sadness and you will find yourselves smiling at just what he would have got up to. I think it's a great idea to scatter his ashes in a spot that you all loved and I think you may very well hear him barking on the wind. I only wish that I had known him longer and more closely – what a Lad!
All Best Wishes to you and the team at Mountainfeet,
Tony
What have the boys (and girl...) been up to?
 Marcus has completed a road trip to the Scottish Highlands on his beloved Triumph Trophy motorbike. He toted bivvy gear and climbing kit too... Don Whillans would be proud of him!
He's also been applying his expertise to the Chew Valley Cragsmen website. This is a group of people with a passion for climbing in and around the Chew Valley area who have a regular but informal meet every Tuesday at a local crag. Never a day goes by now without Marcus asking Si some technical web related question – hopefully he'll soon be writing the Mountainfeet website so Si can have a break!
Phil is counting down the days to starting University at Huddersfield to continue studying for his podiatry degree! This is obviously of great benefit to the rest of us as Phil will be at the sharp end of the latest podiatric teaching and can pass on relevant information in our frequent discussions. Look for him playing the impoverished student card and hanging out at soup kitchens to get food!
 Jane is now a fully fledged Saddleworth Runner and is well into her summer racing and training regime – she's also liasing with other local off road running clubs as we have exciting developments ahead involving Inov8 and their 2010 running footwear range. As training, she either runs or cycles to work virtually every day putting the rest of us to shame!
 Si has been knocked sideways by the loss of his beloved dog, Cap but is bouncing back by immersing himself in as much sport as possible. He's even been seen out running in a local race! But cycling and sailing are still figuring large in his and Lizzie's life – they rode Achilles the tandem into Manchester in August for the excellent Sky Ride. And they're regularly riding with the local Saddleworth Clarion Cycling Club – join us on either road or mountain bikes on Sundays and Wednesday nights. There's a full program of rides for most people to enjoy...
Si and Lizzie now sail and race an RS500 sailing dinghy at Bala Sailing Club. This represents a serious exercise in teamwork and has lead to heated exchanges and loads of swimming! Luckily, they keep the arguments on the water and are getting pretty proficient despite some fairly colourful language flying about! Expect an article soon about the highs and lows of asymmetric sailing....
Help for Heroes
 Our service lads and lasses overseas deserve all the support we can give right now as they do a phenomenally difficult job a long way from home. Our good friend and Saddleworth Runner, Chris Maylor is raising funds for the Help for Heroes charity and has already completed a three Peaks Challenge run team mates Andy and Howard.
There's also an "Evening of Adventure" scheduled for the 4th September at Dovestones Sailing Club where three guest speakers will enthrall their audience with tales of their exploits to raise much needed funds for wounded service personnel at home and abroad.
Chris's other endeavours with his Adventure Fundraising team members can be followed on www.adventurefundraising.moonfruit.com. We wish them all the best...
Achilles comes home...
Visitors to the shop might be forgiven for wondering what a tatty old tandem bicycle is doing hanging from our ceiling! But they need to look further than skin deep because Achilles is one of the most famous tandems in the world...
Featured in ITV's Take a Seat documentary and now in a book of the same name by Dominic Gill, he has covered well over 20,000 miles and has come to reside at the shop in his retirement. On the occasions he's missing, the chances are that Si and Liz will be out and about on him as they're getting into tandem cycle riding with a vengeance!
Si's given him a major mechanical overhaul and he's (Achilles not Si) in fantastic mechanical fettle but cosmetically still looks like he's been almost the equivalent distance to the world's circumference!
Meanwhile, Dom's out in the USA attempting his latest challenge – riding coast to coast on a specially adapted tandem giving riding and adventure opportunities to disabled cyclists he encounters enroute. See the website for details...
Dove Stone
Many of you will have heard of the new partnership between United Utilities and the RSPB ( Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) to manage, maintain and develop Dove Stone. But what do you know of the plans? Follow the link above to their website to learn more about their vision for the future of this beautiful resource.
We at Mountainfeet are passionate and sympathetic users of Dove Stone and its surroundings. We feel we are representative of a multitude of outdoor enthusiasts and as such are engaging with the RSPB to learn more of their plans for the future.
At a meeting between Si and Roy Taylor, Peak District area Development Manager for the RSPB, Roy made it clear that the RSPB has no intention of restricting current legal activities and are committed to conservation and education within the site. One of the obvious immediate improvements is the removal of litter from the lakeside – regular collections will be a welcome feature from now on.
The long and short of it is that the RSPB are keen to work with responsible partners who have an interest in the area and that change where necessary will be gradual and sympathetic.
Let us know what you think – we'd be interested in your views and will feed any relevant concerns directly on to the RSPB. Let's make sure we all have a hand in shaping the future of our much loved outdoor resource...
Oldham's Retailer of the Year 2010
 Once again, we're incredibly proud to have won the 2010 Retailer of the Year accolade from the One Oldham Business Awards panel. Since winning the 2009 Award, we have worked hard at adding to our expertise and extending our footwear inventory – particularly on the off road running side. We value our customers and endeavour to always treat them in the way we would like to be treated, with courtesy, respect and a bit of banter thrown in for good luck!
Thanks must go firstly to our valued friends and customers who make the shop's existence possible and secondly to the Oldham Chronicle and Oldham Borough Council who both recognise the need to nurture independent businesses in these difficult economic times.
War on litter!
Litter, the great British Blight! Doesn't it get you really angry? The number of times we bring someone else's crap down off a hillside – bet you've done it yourself! And if you do see an offending person and challenge them then the usual response is to be told to **** off or worse...
 Like us, you may wonder what you can do to help the situation. We found this excellent organisation whose website is well worth a visit. What about setting up a few local groups to keep the places we love to walk and climb rubbish free?
Si's on a mission to clear up the bankside of the stream in the Wessenden Valley where wild campers have dug a pit and torn down tree limbs to build a fire before scattering litter and beer cans liberally around the spot! To the perpetrators; don't bother coming back till you've learned some respect for your surroundings....
Mountainfeet ski touring course
Because of increasing commitments, last seasons ski touring course will be the last one we run for a while but was possibly the best yet! Great weather, fantastic snow conditions and a brilliant and sociable group made for a really enjoyable week based mainly in and around La Clusaz in the Haute Savoie, French Alps. We skipped over to Val d'Isere for two days and overnighted in the Refuge de la Femma, located under a spectacular rock face and miles from civilisation – a first hut tour for several of the group.
Here's a photo of 3 members of the team grafting on a 700 metre climb in the Tarantaise before a sublime descent on the two day hut tour. The rest of the week we were returning to the luxury of Al and Ali's chalet!
Tried and tested – new boots at Mountainfeet
 Si was busy earlier in the year trying boots in our range. The boots that really impressed were the B2 rated Scarpa Charmoz for winter UK and summer Alpine mountaineering and the similar looking but B1 rated Scarpa Cristallo which is a superb technical walking and scrambling boot capable of taking a walking crampon. Both these boots are GoreTex lined and incredibly light and precise. Si has put many miles on both pairs and used the Charmoz's with the brilliant Grivel Air Tech crampon.
 Make sure you don't confuse the new Cristallo with the old one pictured on the Scarpa website in red and yellow – they are out of date. The new model is the one pictured on the left here and suits a surprising number of foot shapes by using the cleverly designed FT last which gives technical fit yet brilliant comfort. Scarpa are advertising both the Cristallo and the Charmoz quite heavily and are expecting demand to be high.
Another very impressive newcomer is the Zamberlan Vioz Plus which is based on the standard Vioz but beefs it up to 3/4 season capability by virtue of extra stiffness and a durable rand.
 And of course, the ubiquitous Meindl Burma is still king of the hill for many and the core of our top end traditional leather trekking boots. Make sure that you take advantage of our comprehensive fitting service if buying boots from us – you will probably learn things you didn't know about your feet!
Paramo at Mountainfeet
 We''ve always been impressed with the function and build of Paramo products but our guys have tended to use more traditional layering systems for their mountain activities.
But we recognised that there is a place for both types of systems in the shop and that Paramo has a very loyal and unswerving following, particularly amongst the walking club fraternity. We keep a small core line of product in stock now and can order lines to suit an individual customer. We particularly like the lightweight Quito jacket which will work well in both summer and winter for most activities and seems particularly good for mountain biking.
Inov-8 Off Road Centre
 Inov-8 off road running and walking footwear has gone from strength to strength – you'll see a large percentage of fell and trail runners these days in Mudclaws, Roclites or similar. And their packs, socks and accessories continue to gain favour from the fast and light fraternity who value both function and form.
 We've invested in several of their new line up of shoes and other products for 2010 and are excited by Inov-8's philosophy which is to design footwear around the natural function of the foot using their observations of biomechanical function. There are now options for everyone from the diehard club runner who wants the ultimate low profile sole unit to the fitness enthusiast progressing to trail running who needs more cushioning and heel/forefoot differential.
The range needs a level of understanding and explanation – we have most of the new styles already in store and we love talking about the benefits of each model!
Make sure we have a good look at your feet and running style if you visit the shop – we can often spot potential problems that could cause eventual injury and advise solutions that can keep you running more healthily.
Nuun tablets for athletes and travellers
 Nuun tablets were designed, formulated and tested to keep you optimally hydrated, wherever you are. Nuun tablets come in a tough tube that is water resistant and perfect for carrying in a rucsac or jacket pocket. 1 tube = 6 litres, enough to get you through a couple of days adventure racing or a weeks travelling at least.
Nuun doesn't contain carbohydrate – it supplies the vital electrolytes to replenish the salts lost by the body in heat or exercise and leaves you free to carbo load as required using bars, bananas etc. A brilliant product that is being demanded by more and more of our walkers, runners and mountain bikers. And travellers should definitely carry a couple of packets – particularly if they're going to be in extreme heat.
High 5 and SIS in stock too!
We also have loads of High 5 and Science in Sport products to keep runners and walkers optimally fuelled through a long day of sport. Don't make the mistake of not taking a regular intake of fluid and carbohydrates – by the time you feel thirsty, it's generally a little late for the drink you're about to gulp down to provide benefit...
Why not go Geocaching...
 As we supply more GPS units to walkers and climbers, some folk are struggling to get to grips with using the technology. Why not log onto the International Geocaching website and go and explore your locality in greater detail? You'll be amazed at what you find out and more than one of our customers have found themselves hooked after taking a casual look on the internet. We are fortunate to have loads of geocaches set up in the Pennines around Saddleworth and Marsden which allow you to plan a walk with an added twist of interest.
Click on the GPS image to the right – the link will show you the nearest geocaches to our shop – just put your own postcode in instead and get searching...
We've been extensively using the Memory Map Adventurer 2800 (pictured) which as far as we can tell is the cheapest fully functioning OS mapping based handheld GPS. It's a full solution for most UK users as it includes OS mapping for the UK National Park regions and can be easily and cheaply added to by acquiring more regional and even Alpine mapping.
Cap's Corner (alias the Dog Blog)
 Cap's famous blog has been moved to it's own dedicated page. Just click the link on the left hand menu bar to see what he used to get up to at home and in the shop!
You probably know that we very sadly lost him after a short illness on August the 4th but we'd like you all to remember him for the joy he brought and so we're leaving his last few blogs up for you to read...
And here's a picture of him chilling in our van for you to be going on with!
|
Tthis is a really inspiring read and is might be just the thing to spark your next life shaping adventure!
